Beat It and Bake It

I love to bake. Cooking...not as much. Baking is definitely my kind of thing. First of all, I love sweets. Secondly, I love that it's an exact science. With cooking, you can add a smidgen of "this" and a pinch of "that" to make things taste better or to complement flavors. When people say things like that, I think, "What are you talking about??" I prefer to be told what to do and how to do it. It makes me feel safe.

When Elina was younger I didn't really bake as much. I mean, the only time I could do it was during her naps or after she went to bed, but that was my time to just eat a quick lunch or to just veg out. Since Elina has gotten older though, I try to let her bake with me. She loves to "help" and she loves to taste what we bake. I put quotes around the word help because she's not exactly helpful, if you know what I mean. When she bakes with me, everything takes a little more time and the stress level can be a little higher. I have to measure ingredients out for her so that she can help me pour everything into the bowls. I have to watch her when she does everything to limit spills. I always have a longer clean-up time because I couldn't limit all those spills. Lately, I've put Elina in charge of the mixer. She loves it. She locks it and turns it on. She knows what's low speed and what's medium speed. She's in charge of smelling the mixing bowl to make sure everything smells yummy.
A few days ago we made chocolate chip cookies together and, I must say, it was a really enjoyable experience. There was only one tiny mishap when Elina spilled half of the chopped walnuts on the floor when she was pouring it into the mixer. Other than that, it was a lot of fun. I had Michael Jackson songs playing on the iPod while we were baking so we were jammin' out the whole time. We were dancing and shakin' our booties while we rolled the dough into balls. It was the most fun we've had baking so far.

I have fond memories of Elina and Michael Jackson...and I'm not saying this just because he recently passed away. Like most people my age, I tried to do the Thriller dance and I knew the words to Beat It. But when I was pregnant with Elina, I listened to a lot of Michael Jackson. We lived in Fort Walton Beach, which was an hour from where I was going to school (Pensacola). During my weekly drives out there, I'd always jam out to Michael Jackson songs in the car. Elina would be kicking away in my belly because the music was way loud (and the songs were awesome). She liked the music back then and she enjoys the music now.

So I think Elina and I will be bakin' and shakin' (our booties) together more often in the future.